MacBook Pro 15'' (2011) very slow, problems on shutdown

A while ago, I was given a lot of useful information that lead me to buying a MacBook Pro (15'', 2011, Lion) on this forum. Thanks again for that!

Now, just a bit under 2 months after buying it, it's starting to behave in a weird way.

Everything seems to be very slow lately (it needs about 2-3 seconds to display a small jpg image in the preview, for example). Other programs are starting quite slowly, too. Once a program has started/is running, everything seems to be fine (or at least I never noticed any slow moments).

This behavior makes me think that my MBP might have a problem with the HDD (500 GB, 7200 rpm). Unfortunately, I am not able to run Apple Hardware Test. I tried holding down the D and the C key on booting (not at the same time, of course), but that did not do the trick. I even started from the recovery partition, but could not find it on there, either.

So here's question number one: how do I check my harddisk for errors? Any hints on how to run AHT on Lion?

I am not sure about this one, but atMonitor tells me that my CPU is running at ~52° (Celsius, approx. 126° Fahrenheit) - is that normal? The GPU runs at ~56° Celsius (uptime slightly under 2 hours).

Alright, on to question number two: lately, I sometimes get an error when I shut my system down. It then tells me that I have to hold down the power button until it switches off and then restart it. This did not happen before, I think it started about 10 or 14 days ago. What is that? Any ideas how to fix it?

I am willing to reset the machine to factory defaults (although I'm quite worried about my bootcamp partition - how hard is it to bring everything back to a working state?) if I have to - but if I can somehow fix it without resetting it, I'd be glad.

Since this computer is only about 2 months old...have you tried checking with Apple about it (phone or nearby Apple Store)?

If it actually is a hardware issue...Apple is the one you're going to have to eventually deal with anyway.

- Nick

- Too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs- Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some slow computer tips: Speedup- Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space- Apple Battery Info. Battery

That SHOULD work, assuming your computer CAME with Lion installed on it. If it did not, you need to use the DVD's that came with it (although there is a hack to restore it.. on SOME Macs).

I tried that today. I disconnected everything from the MBP and started it while holding down D. The result was a VERY slow, but otherwise regular boot. No AHT. My MBP was shipped with Lion, so there is no DVD or anything.